003 / 75 · Breakfasts That Teach the Basics
Cottage Cheese Breakfast Biscuits with Strawberry Crush
4 drop biscuits with strawberry crush; 2 biscuits and half the fruit per serving · Active 20 min · Total 55 min
Print recipe · PDFThese are spooned drop biscuits rather than a dough that needs rolling and cutting. Cottage cheese supplies moisture and small curds, while a little cold butter helps the edges bake golden. The fruit is crushed fresh while the biscuits cool. You need only a bowl, a fork and a baking sheet, but the way you mix matters: flour should disappear without the dough being beaten into a smooth paste.
Leave a little texture in the bowl
Rub or cut the cold butter into the flour with a firm fork until small uneven pieces remain. Cottage-cheese curds do not need to be blended away. Fold them through with the measured milk, turning the mixture from the bottom until no dry flour pockets remain. A few turns are usually enough. This is a sticky mixture for a spoon, not a kneadable bread dough. Extra flour added to make it easy to handle can turn the biscuits dry, and prolonged mixing can make them tough.
Divide before trying to make them pretty
Set four similar mounds on the lined sheet, leaving several inches between them. Slightly rough tops are part of a drop biscuit. Flatten only enough to keep each mound about the same height, so that one does not stay damp while another becomes deeply brown. After baking, let the biscuits stand on a rack before splitting one. The middle should look set rather than like wet dough. Meanwhile, a fork turns washed hulled strawberries into a chunky sauce. Keep some fruit pieces rather than blending everything to liquid; the crush can be spooned beside each warm biscuit without soaking the entire batch.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose wheat flour (120 g)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder (6 g)
- 1/8 teaspoon fine salt (0.75 g)
- 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons unsalted butter, cold and diced (25 g)
- 2/3 cup plain 2% cottage cheese (150 g), stirred before measuring
- 1 tablespoon 2% milk (15 ml/about 15.5 g)
- 1 1/3 cups strawberries, washed and hulled (200 g)
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (12 g)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice (5 ml/about 5 g)
Set out
Oven, Rimmed baking sheet, Oven-rated baking parchment, Mixing bowl, Firm fork, 2 large spoons, Cooling rack, Small bowl for fruit, Knife
Allergens
Milk, Wheat. Check labels and substitutions.
Make it
- Heat oven to 425°F/220°C and line the baking sheet. Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Cut the cold butter into it with the fork until small pieces remain. Fold in cottage cheese and milk until no dry flour remains; do not knead or taste raw dough.
- Divide into 4 equal mounds, about 80 g each, on the sheet with at least 3 in/7.5 cm gaps. Shape with the spoons into rough rounds about 2 1/2 in/6 cm wide and 1 in/2.5 cm high. Bake 18–22 minutes until risen and golden, with a set, non-doughy center when one is split.
- Move biscuits to the rack and cool 10 minutes. Crush strawberries, sugar and lemon juice in the small bowl with a clean fork, leaving small pieces. Serve 2 biscuits with half the strawberry crush per person.
A beginner skill to practice
Practice stopping the mixing as soon as the dry flour disappears. Uneven little curds are expected and do not call for vigorous beating.
A useful detail
The 55-minute total includes mixing, baking and 10 minutes cooling. Thick cottage cheese is intended; do not pour loose liquid from the tub into the dough as extra milk.
Another way
- Use 200 g ripe peeled peach flesh for the crush instead of strawberries; dice finely before crushing. The base estimate will change.
- The biscuits can be eaten cold. Keep the fruit separate until serving so the crumb remains distinct.
Keep it well
Refrigerate cooled biscuits and strawberry crush separately within 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F/32°C, at 40°F/4°C or below. Use within 2 days. Warm a biscuit in the oven or eat it cold; reheat any portion being served as a hot leftover to 165°F/74°C. Keep fruit cold and use a clean spoon.